"The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure" (1967) TV series 1967-1968

Writers:

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

9 September 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Family | Animation

Plot:

The animated adventures of several DC Comics superheroes.

Plot Keywords:

DC Comics | Superman | Superhero | Green Lantern | Hawkman

Cast

 (Series Cast Summary - 1 of 10)

Paul Frees

...

Evil Star / ... (2 episodes, 1967)

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Filmation Associates

Trivia:

The Teen Titans line up was Kid Flash, Aqualad, Speedy and Wonder Girl. Notably absent was Robin. This was because Robin was appearing in a different animated series at the time, so they could not use the character. Whenever the Titans contacted each other on screen at the beginning of the episode, each character would appear on separate monitors. There was one monitor that was usually blank, presumably this would have been where Robin's image would appear.

Goofs:

Continuity: Green Lantern normally wears his power ring on his right hand, but in several shots he is firing the ring from his left hand.

Quotes:

Romnix's Executive Officer: Magno Unit Missile in place, Romnix.
Romnix: Excellent. Order Fleet into attack position.
Romnix's Executive Officer: Wait! A fighter craft has broken formation, heading for Earth.
Romnix: It is Valcar. STOP HIM! He must not warn Earth of our plans!

Movie Connections:

Version of Justice League: The New Frontier (2008) (V)

Great series with a few flaws

Being a child of the 70's, I wish I had been around in the late 1960's when Saturday morning programming consisted 80% of animated Super Hero cartoons. I would have loved to have seen the original format of the DC Super Heroes by Filmation. I'd already seen Superman and Superboy on the Bozo Show when I was around the ages of 11 or 12.

As for Aquaman, I didn't see those cartoons until I was a high school senior and we had finally gotten a VCR, so I went to Blockbuster video and rented the Super Powers Aquaman cartoons. I was blown away. Loved the music and the voice overs. I enjoyed Aquaman and Aqualad and could handle Mera and the sea horses. It was Tusky the Walrus I could have done without. I think he and Space Ghost's monkey Blip were the beginning of useless cartoon characters who had no business hanging out with Super Heroes. Aquaman's foes were enjoyable. The only one who I wasn't too hot about was Black Manta. The design and Ted Knight's voice for him just didn't do him justice. After seeing Black Manta on Challenge of the SuperFriends voiced over by Ted Cassidy, no one seems to hold a candle. I loved watching Aquaman create hard water balls even though that is actually Mera's power. It seems to me that the Aquaman cartoons were trying to cash in on the camp style of the Batman TV show. The Aqua duo had an Aquacave and Aquacomputers that work underwater. And Aqualad has catchphrases like Holy Haddocks! or Sufferin Sailfish!! And what was up with Aquaman's boots? I'm used to the legs with fins. But these flaws are minor and shouldn't stop you from checking out the Aquaman animated series of 1967. I love the music, especially the theme music. Lots of Almanacs and sites pertaining to Aquaman tend to get one thing wrong. It wasn't Ted Knight who did Aquaman's voice, though he narrated and voiced over all male villains and background characters. It was actually Marvin Miller and he did a pretty good job.

As for the DC Heroes, I didn't see them until the badly edited Superman/Batman Adventures package that aired in 1996 on USA Network. Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, The Atom, and the Teen Titans each had something odd or wrong about their outfits, but that doesn't stop the shows from being exciting with lots of action packed action. I only wish Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Arrow could have been on Justice League and Robin could have been leading the Teen Titans. But in the cases of Batman and Robin, it's understandable since their rights were tied up with the Live TV show at the time.

Though I've never seen this hour long show in its original format, I did one time see what a sample of half the format looked like. It had 2 Aquaman episodes with one rotating DC cartoon in the middle. The first of those I saw was the Justice League of America. Awesome!! Like I said before, these cartoons are well worth checking out.